Home Office

Passports

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of paying compensation for missing passports dispatched within the UK from her Department and departmental offices in 2013-14.

James Brokenshire: In 2013-14, Her Majesty's Passport Office paid £27.04 in compensation as a result of passports being sent to the incorrect address.

Passports

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many standard applications for passports were re-designated as fast-track applications in each month in the last five years.

James Brokenshire: The following table sets out the number of standard applications for passports which have been re-designated as fast-track applications in each month in the last five years. These have been re-designated by the customer on request. * The table also shows the total number of applications dealt with under the fast track scheme over the same period. 



Applications dealt with for fast track
(Word Document, 97 KB)

Immigrants: Detainees

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Rule 35 applications have been submitted by healthcare providers in immigration removal centres, by immigration removal centre, in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in how many cases detainees were released automatically as a result of Rule 35 applications from each immigration removal centre in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Rule 35 applications submitted by healthcare providers in each immigration removal centre received a response from her Department in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

James Brokenshire: Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001 sets out requirements for doctors at immigration removal centres to report on: (1) any detained person whose health is likely to be injuriously affected by continued detention or any conditions of detention;(2) any detained person suspected of having suicidal intentions; and(3) any detained person for whom there are concerns that they may have been a victim of torture.The following table shows the number of Rule 35 applications submitted by healthcare providers in immigration removal centres.All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.   The issue of a Rule 35 report does not mean that the detainee concerned will be released automatically from detention, or even necessarily that the doctor making the report will have recommended release. Rule 35 is a mechanism for information to be brought to the attention of Home Office caseworkers so that it may be considered and the person’s detention reviewed in light of it, in line with detention policy. Whether or not an individual is released will depend on the specific facts of the case. All the Rule 35 applications submitted by healthcare providers in immigration removal centres during the period in question were brought to the attention of Home Office caseworkers and the person’s detention reviewed in line with detention policy.  



Rule 35 applications
(Excel SpreadSheet, 25 KB)

HM Treasury

Revenue and Customs

Shabana Mahmood: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has made (a) voluntarily and (b) compulsorily redundant in each of its areas of activity in each year from 2010-11; and how much HMRC has spent on redundancy costs in each such year.

Mr David Gauke: Under Cabinet Office protocols for managing staff surpluses, all HMRC staff leaving under compulsory redundancy (CR) terms have first been offered and declined voluntary redundancy (VR) terms. To date this has ensured that all staff who have left HMRC on CR terms have chosen to take compulsory redundancy, either because accepting CR over VR terms has not financially disadvantaged them, or they have declined a reasonable alternative redeployment solution in favour of CR terms. The redundancies and the voluntary exits have had no effect on the level of service provided by HMRC.  The information required can be found in the exit data, which is published every year in the departmental accounts.

Welfare Tax Credits

Mr Bob Ainsworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) child tax credits and (b) working tax credits claimants in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England were paid in error in each of the last five years.

Priti Patel: This information is not available for i and ii. The estimated number of tax credit claims paid out incorrectly in the claimants favour, due to either error or fraud, in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years is provided in Table 2 in:2008/09: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121103084242/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtcredits-error0809.pdf2009/10: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121103084242/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtcredits-error0910.pdf2010/11: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130414062148/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/fin-error-stats/cwtcredits-error.pdf2011/12:http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140206214602/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/fin-error-stats/cwtcredits-error.pdf2012/13: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-error-and-fraud-statistics-2012-to-2013

Financial Action Task Force

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, who the Government's representative is on the Financial Action Task Force.

Andrea Leadsom: The UK delegation to the Financial Action Task Force is led by the Deputy Director of the Treasury’s Sanctions and Illicit Finance team, and includes officials from the Home Office, National Crime Agency and other departments as appropriate.

Financial Services

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) size and (b) potential risk posed to the economy from (i) the UK and (ii) the international shadow banking system.

Andrea Leadsom: When appropriately conducted, shadow banking can benefit the economy by increasing the availability of credit to a range of individuals or firms, and provide a valuable alternative to bank funding. However, the Government is aware of the risks shadow banking activities can pose to financial stability. To ensure that systemic risks to financial stability are addressed, the Government has created the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England. In September last year, the Committee agreed as one of its medium term priorities the identification and management of potential systemic risks from shadow banking. Additionally at the international level, the Government is actively supporting the effective regulation of the sector in EU policymaking, and the UK authorities are playing an instrumental role in shaping the global regulatory response at the Financial Stability Board.  The Financial Stability Board’s Global Shadow Banking Monitoring Report 2013 includes its latest assessment of the size of, and trends in, non-bank financial intermediation.

Average Earnings

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent change there has been in the average wage of UK workers.

Priti Patel: As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has made clear, living standards and real wages have been squeezed as a direct and delayed consequence of the 2008 recession.  The only sustainable way to raise living standards is to tackle the country’s economic problems head on and build an economy where those who aspire to work hard and do the right thing are rewarded. We appreciate that times are tough and budgets are squeezed, and that is why we have taken continued action to help with the cost of living.

Economic Situation: North East

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the economy of the North East since 2010.

Priti Patel: The latest available data show that from 2010 to 2012 the North East has grown by 4.2 per cent in (nominal) cash terms, faster than the average for the UK as a whole. On a per head basis the North East has grown by 3.4 per cent again outstripping the UK as a whole.  Since the election nearly 65,000 more people are in work in the North East and employment over the last year has increased faster than for the UK as a whole.

Members: Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he intends to reply to the letter dated 31 July 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Godfrey Jones, transferred by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Mr David Gauke: Your letter of 31 July 2014 asks for a response to your previous letter of 18 June 2014, which was responded to by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in their letter to you dated 29 July 2014. HMRC replied to the letter of 31 July 2014 on 30 September 2014.

Tax Avoidance

Mr Iain Wright: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that companies which may have engaged people wrongly claiming to be self-employed as a means of national insurance and income tax avoidance are investigated by HM Revenue and Customs; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke: Legislation was introduced in this year’s Finance Act to tackle the growing problem of agency workers being falsely classed as self-employed by the use of intermediary companies. HM Revenue & Customs undertakes risk-based investigations of businesses believed to be avoiding the payment of National Insurance and income tax by classifying their workers falsely as self-employed.

Ministry of Defence

Members: Correspondence

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to reply to the letters to him of 2 April and 9 May 2014 from the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse.

Mr Mark Francois: I replied to the hon. Member on 25 September 2014.

Pay

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many officials in his Department, of each grade, have remained at that grade since 2010 but received a pay rise; and how much of a rise each such person at each such grade has received.

Anna Soubry: The following number of officials have remained at the same grade from 1 January 2011 until 31 July 2014.  Grade BandHeadcountSCS PB220SCS PB180BAND B1325BAND B2645BAND C13,635BAND C24,850BAND D4,975BAND E16,645BAND E23,435 SKILL ZONE 4220SKILL ZONE 31,880SKILL ZONE 22,240SKILL ZONE 11,100TOTAL30,050  In line with Defence Statistics rounding policy all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, numbers exclude Royal fleet auxiliary, Ministry of Defence (MOD) police, fire fighters, teachers, NHS grades, apprentices, Non Standard Operational Groups and museum workers. The above figures relate to personnel who have been in employment throughout the period 1 January 2011 – to current date. For 2011 and 2012 only those staff whose Annual salary was less than £21,000 were entitled to receive a pay award. For these two awards, 19,450 personnel received pay increases of at least £250 per annum. The pay award for August 2013 saw a 1% increase in salary for all personnel covered by the MOD Main Pay Award and this is reflected in the figures which show that overall 30,050 personnel received a pay increase of at least 1% for the period 1 January 2011 - 1 August 2013. This figure includes the 19,450 personnel that received the pay increase of at least £250 for August 2011 and August 2012.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey, (e) Capita, (f) Atos, (g) Mitie, (h) Working Links, (i) A4E, (j) MTC Amey, (k) GEO Group and (l) Carillion in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14.

Mr Philip Dunne: As part of the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) transparency programme, monthly spend over £25,000 is available on the Gov.uk website for financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mod-finance-transparency-dataset. This data represents payments made centrally by the MOD. It does not include payments made by the MOD’s Trading Funds, payments made for warlike stores, and payments that would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information legislation (for example, for reasons of national security or commercial sensitivity). No payments have been made over the period 2010-11 to 2013-14 to GEO Amey, Working Links, A4E, MTC Amey or GEO Group.Since January 2011, all contracts over £10,000 in value are published on Contracts Finder:http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk/

Armed Forces: Rehabilitation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that service personnel are effectively reintegrated into society following active service duty.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has robust measures in place to prepare our Service personnel for civilian life. As Lord Ashcroft highlighted in his recent review of transition arrangements, the vast majority of Service leavers make a successful transition.All Service leavers are entitled to resettlement assistance from the Ministry of Defence funded Career Transition Partnership (CTP). We work with all industry sectors to offer Service leavers a range of employment options through the creation of partnerships with major organisations such as BAE Systems, Jaguar, Siemens and Google. The CTP helped 85% of Service leavers find sustainable employment within six months of leaving the Armed Forces in 2013-14. The MOD supports a range of schemes to help Service leavers secure appropriate accommodation, and provides briefings on housing and finance. The £200 million Forces Help to Buy scheme began on 1 April 2014, meaning that Servicemen and women can now borrow up to 50% of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000, interest free, providing a boost to those needing to find a deposit to buy their own home. In February 2014, LIBOR funding of £40 million was announced to support charities which assist veterans with housing needs. Projects are expected to include hostels and half-way houses for veterans, supported housing for the wounded, injured and sick, and long-term care homes.The Veterans UK Helpline can provide advice on a wide range of issues, including healthcare, accommodation, training and benefits. The helpline can be reached on 0808 1914 218.

Employment Tribunals Service

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the highest monetary settlement his Department has paid out as a result of an industrial tribunal on the grounds of (a) unfair dismissal, (b) discrimination and (c) unfair deductions from pay in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Guided Weapons

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what consideration his Department has given to integrating the Brimstone 2 missile onto Apache AH.1 attack helicopters MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles.

Mr Philip Dunne: No decisions have been taken on the integration of Brimstone 2 on UK Apache Helicopters or UK armed Remotely Piloted Air Systems.

Iraq

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what military capacity is available to support US air strikes in Northern Iraq.

Mr Mark Francois: The UK has a number of military assets deployed in support of the US-led humanitarian mission in Iraq, including Tornado GR4s with surveillance capability, a UK Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft, voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft and C130s.We also have a range of other contingent capabilities, some of which are assigned to ongoing or potential operations.

Teachers: Veterans

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to encourage veterans to consider teaching as a post-service career option.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has robust measures in place to prepare our Service personnel for civilian life as well as addressing any accommodation, employment, welfare, health and domestic needs and concerns. While in Service, our personnel can receive skills, qualifications and experience accredited to nationally recognised standards to ease the transition back into the civilian workplace. The MOD and the Department for Education have worked closely together on the Troops for Teachers Programme. This is a coherent programme that Service leavers can use to access teaching opportunities to increase the number of high-quality Service leavers joining the teaching profession. The MOD and the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) (the MOD’s employment support partner for personnel leaving the Armed Forces) promote the programme through various channels including CTP organised career events for Service personnel; through internal Defence media (such as the Defence Intranet); and through resettlement briefings which take place at CTP centres across the UK. The CTP continues to be successful. Of those personnel who access the CTP, 85% are in employment within six months of them leaving the Armed Forces.The new two-year, school-based Troops to Teachers programme started in January 2014 and has been designed and developed together with a group of outstanding schools and initial teacher training providers and with the CTP. It uses a rigorous assessment, selection and recruitment process to identify those Service leavers with the potential to become outstanding teachers. This process also recognises the professional skills Service leavers already have and provides training to make best use of and further develop them in schools. Good progress was made in recruiting 41 eligible Service leavers for the first cohort of this scheme. Trainees in the first cohort are in their second term of school-based training and feedback from host schools has been positive.

Armed Forces: Credit Unions

Mr Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made on establishing a credit union for military personnel; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The hon. Member will be aware that we met on 15 July 2014 to discuss this very issue. The formation of an Armed Forces Credit Union is not considered to be core Ministry Of Defence (MOD) business, however we fully endorse existing, strong credit unions expanding their membership to include members of the Armed Forces community. The MOD is currently exploring the support it can offer those unions and that includes investigating how we can facilitate payroll deductions for Credit Unions.

Army Reserve

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Regular: Reserve Cost Comparison Model.

Mr Julian Brazier: The Regular Reserve Cost Comparison was undertaken in 2011 for the Independent Commission to review the United Kingdom's Reserve Forces using the best data available at the time. I refer the right hon. Member to paragraph 97 of their report. However, due to improvements in the way the data is collated and the package offered to Reservists, its findings do not reflect the current position. Further work is under way to refine the comparison and I would be happy to write to the right hon. Member to summarise the findings when this work completes.

NATO

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with which NATO allies the UK is working to establish a Joint Expeditionary Force; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which UK units he plans to allocate to the NATO Joint Expeditionary Force.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what size the NATO Joint Expeditionary Force will be.

Mr Julian Brazier: The UK is developing the Joint Expeditionary Force with Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Norway, outside the framework of any particular international organisation. A letter of intent to develop the Joint Expeditionary Force was signed by Defence Ministers from these nations at the NATO Summit in Wales on 4 September 2014.The Joint Expeditionary Force is a pool of forces, drawn from all three Services and the Joint Forces Command and held at high readiness. It covers a very wide spectrum of military capabilities. The UK units allocated to the pool are not fixed, but rotate to allow a cycle of training and exercising between periods of readiness. This pool contains up to about 20,000 UK Armed Forces personnel and is used to generate scalable joint task forces, the size and composition of which are tailored to the specific tasks to be completed. They may include forces provided by Joint Expeditionary Force partner nations.

Armed Forces

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what work his Department is currently undertaking in relation to the future (a) size and (b) budget of each service; and with which of those studies the relevant Chief of Staff is involved.

Michael Fallon: The future size and budget of each of the three Services will be reviewed as part of the next Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and the next Spending Review, currently expected to take place in 2015. All three Services are focused on delivering the Future Force 2020 vision set out in the last SDSR, published in 2010. The Chiefs of Staff will be closely involved in any strategic decision which concerns both their Service and Defence more broadly. The Department also conducts an annual financial planning cycle (known as the Annual Budgeting Cycle) to ensure that plans remain aligned with budgets; the Chiefs of Staff are an integral part of this activity.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his Department's planned timeline is for the implementation of section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles: The Government currently proposes that section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (“ERRA”) is implemented on 6 April 2018. The Government is consulting on this proposed timing. This consultation closes on 27 October 2014 and full details of the consultation are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transitional-provisions-for-the-repeal-of-section-52-of-the-cdpa. Accordingly, the Secretary of State currently has no plans to make a statement.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the planned transition period for the implementation of section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.

Nick Boles: The Government currently proposes that section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (“ERRA”) is implemented on 6 April 2018, which it views is a fair and proportionate transition period. Its assessment of the adequacy of the transition period, based on available evidence, is set out in the consultation-stage Impact Assessment. This proposal for the transition period is subject to consultation. The consultation was launched on 15 September 2014 and will close on 27 October 2014. The consultation document and its associated Impact Assessment are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transitional-provisions-for-the-repeal-of-section-52-of-the-cdpa. The Government will make its final assessment of the most appropriate transition period following the consultation.